COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — In this picturesque village on the shores of Lake Otsego, Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. became a baseball immortal yesterday.
Before a record throng of 75,000 at Clark Sports Center, the former Baltimore Orioles star was inducted along with former San Diego Padre Tony Gwynn into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Ripken, typically self-effacing, began his 14-minute acceptance speech by telling of a 10-year-old student who asked him, “Did you play baseball?”
When Ripken said yes, the boy replied, “On what team? … Should I know you?” And, Ripken added, “that certainly puts all this in perspective.”
If that young man didn’t know Ripken, nearly everyone else did in what the retired ballplayer termed “a sea of orange.” Past induction ceremonies have attracted an average of 15,000 spectators, a Hall of Fame spokesman said. But this time, countless cars and buses made the six-hour trip from the Baltimore-Washington area, carrying fans wishing to pay tribute to a man who spent his entire 21-year major league career with the Orioles, played in 2,632 consecutive games and finished with 3,184 hits and 431 home runs.
Both Ripken and Gwynn, who won eight National League batting titles and had a batting average of .338 over 20 seasons, were overwhelming choices in voting by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America in January. Ripken received more than 98 percent of the vote and Gwynn more than 97 percent, both among the highest totals ever.
Also honored were Kansas City Royals broadcaster Denny Matthews and veteran baseball writer Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Ripken, a native of Aberdeen, Md., and the most popular Orioles player since fellow Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson, choked up in his speech while mentioning his father, his namesake who died of lung cancer in 1999 after a long career as a coach and manager for the Orioles, and other members of his family.
“Imagine how lucky I am to have called the man whose memory I revere to this day by so many important names — teacher, coach, manager and especially Dad,” Ripken said.
He also cited his mother Vi, brother Billy, wife Kelly and children Rachel and Ryan as key people in his life, along with former teammates Eddie Murray, John Shelby and Brady Anderson, Orioles coach Jimmy Williams and team trainer Richie Bancells.
He also hailed all the fans who came to honor him.
“I look at the [consecutive-games] streak as just showing up every day and going to work,” Ripken said. “As I look out at this audience, I see thousands of people who do the same thing. I’d like to salute all of you for working hard … and making the world a better place.”
As he had promised to do, Ripken also sent a strong message that “baseball is alive and well” despite declining numbers of native-born participants in recent years. But he stressed the need for current players and Hall of Famers to serve as ambassadors for the game among young people.
“I hope I can set an example for future players as much as [former New York Yankees star] Lou Gehrig and the [Hall of Famers] seated up here did for me and others,” he said. Fifty-three fellow members of the shrine attended the annual induction ceremony, a record total.
And even during this “celebration of baseball,” as he termed it, Ripken urged his listeners to keep it in perspective.
“It took me a while, but I did come to realize that baseball is just part of my life,” he said. “Games are important, but people and how you impact with them are most important. Whether we like it or not, as big leaguers, we are role models. The only question is, will we be positive or negative?”
During a post-induction press conference, Ripken said he felt he got out his intended message.
“But I felt I sped through it,” he added. “I wish I had said it a little slower and better.”
No complaints were heard after his speech, just loud and long applause for a man who is considered by many to be the finest example of a sports hero — especially in and around Baltimore.
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